


Three Sentence Ficlets (Homestuck)

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: 3 Sentence Ficathon, 3 Sentence Fiction, Alligators & Crocodiles, Alpha Timeline (Homestuck), Alternia is Terrible, Angst, Bad Poetry, Board Games, Can Town (Homestuck), Cute, Dark, Drabble, F/F, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Fate Worse Than Death, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Foreshadowing, Friendship, Frogs, Gen, Good Intentions, Green Sun, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Meta, Miscommunication, Multi, Pirates, Post-Coital, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pre-Sgrub, Predestination, Prompt Fic, Roleplay, Siblings, Silly, Snark, Suicidal Thoughts, Teasing, War, What-If, Wistful, Writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-02-23 10:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2544533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tiny ficlets written in response to various prompts.</p><p><b>1)</b> Calliope has only the best intentions. <b>2)</b> Jake has a brilliant idea! <b>3)</b> Dave/Jade angst. <b>4)</b> Rose & Sollux have an unusual picnic. <b>5)</b> Alpha!Rose considers her work. <b>6)</b> Terezi & Dave play Clue. <b>7)</b> Dave claims he's a dashing pirate; Karkat disagrees. <b>8)</b> Rose rises from the Green Sun. <b>9)</b> The perils of punctuation and/or the lack thereof. <b>10)</b> But why frogs, really?</p><p><b>11)</b> Rose courts Kanaya via magnetic poetry and bad memes. <b>12)</b> Even in the depths of slavery, the Dolorosa spins might-have-beens; the Demoness knows better. <b>13)</b> Calliope considers her other self. <b>14)</b> War is kind. <b>15)</b> Kanaya is fairly sure her neighbors consider her a cryptid. <b>16)</b> Cardhenge and its implications for Can Town. <b>17)</b> No regrets at the end of the world. <b>18)</b> Technically speaking, Rose is a Sagittarius. <b>19)</b> In the first year on the meteor, Rose alchemized a pair of friendship rings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. paving stones

**Author's Note:**

> These ficlets were written for various iterations of the Three Sentence Ficathon hosted by caramelsilver and rthstewart, and in response to prompts I requested on Tumblr when bored. (Yes, I do realize that some are technically four-sentence ficlets. *sadface* Structural restrictions are a perennial struggle.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calliope has only the best intentions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 3/26/13 for [cest_what](https://cest_what.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [Homestuck, Calliope, tricksters](http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/87903.html?thread=2706783#cmt2706783).

Calliope has no idea what will lead her brother into surrendering the code for his own juju, but despite her determination to keep interaction with her friends linear, she hasn't been able to resist peeking ahead, hoarding the tiny scraps she can see through the increasing static and interference, and what she sees tells her that her friends are all unhappy in their various ways: some more obviously than others, but all of them restless and aching for a clear path through the tangles of their epic journey.

Calliope understands that yearning down to her blood and bones, understands loneliness and the bitter, gnawing certainty that she will never find the right answer, the right moment, the right trick, to make her brother change his ways and see how much better they could be if they worked together -- and while she knows she can't fix herself, if the pixilated scraps of candy hair and brilliant clothes she's seen really do mean what she hopes they mean, she can fix her friends.

She can make them happy.

And in the end, isn't that what friendship's for?


	2. an idea so bad it's AWESOME

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake has a brilliant idea!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 3/27/13 for [with_rainfall](http://with_rainfall.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Any fandom, any/any/any/any, orgies](http://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/89310.html?thread=2986974#cmt2986974).

"You know," Jake remarked much later, "while I can't look back on that trickster interlude without feeling a complete ass, I sometimes wonder if our mad selves might not have had one decent idea in a sea of... of..." -- "Disney acid sequence?" "Horror?" "Complete bullshit?" Roxy, Jane, and Dirk offered, respectively, dropping words into Jake's flailing hands in hope that some might fit -- "of complete bullshit, yes, thank you, Strider."

Jane's stomach roiled at the memory of the things she'd said and done under the influence of Calliope's juju -- it _had_ been a horror story, in her view; losing control of herself had always been a recurring nightmare, even before the game -- but curiosity was a cruel mistress and she had to ask: "That idea being?"

"Romantic angst is poppycock; instead, we should stop worrying about couples and boyfriends and whatnot and just all have sex together," Jake proclaimed, throwing his arms over Dirk's and Roxy's shoulders and beaming as if he'd found the answer to the ultimate riddle.

Jane facepalmed, but a treacherous part of her mind couldn't help wondering about logistics.


	3. lost in translation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave/Jade angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 10/29/14 for [missvgc](http://missvgc.tumblr.com), in response to the prompt: [Dave/Jade, lost in translation](http://edenfalling.tumblr.com/post/101293832410/fic-lost-in-translation-homestuck).

"I want to protect you, so please don't worry about me -- my pain doesn't matter. As long as you're alive and happy, I'll pay any price."

It's funny how two people can spend years saying the exact same thing to each other without ever hearing the echo.


	4. picnic at 20,000 feet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose & Sollux have an unusual picnic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 10/29/14 for [bramblemouth](http://bramblemouth.tumblr.com), in response to the prompt: [rose/sollux, on a plane](http://edenfalling.tumblr.com/post/101295698425/rose-sollux-on-a-plane).

They set up their picnic on the wing of a Boeing 747: egg-salad sandwiches, a cheese platter with assorted fancy crackers, tortilla chips and grubsauce to dip them, grapes and apples and carrots, celery sticks filled with peanut butter and raisins, Red Bull and red wine, and a pair of Jane's cupcakes for dessert. The psionic shield holding them in place and maintaining breathable air shimmers and flexes under the force of the wind, tiny forks and spears of red-and-blue lightning lending an otherworldly glow to their faces and the silver-white paint of the wing.

"Gremlinth, my fucking ath; everyone knowth they can't even fly!" Sollux says again as yet another frightened face peers through the airplane's windows, and Rose smirks to herself with the satisfaction of a job well done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reference is the _Twilight Zone_ episode [Nightmare at 20,000 Feet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare_at_20,000_Feet). :)


	5. persuasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alpha!Rose considers her work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 1/2/15 for [silvr_dagger](http://silvr_dagger.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Homestuck, Rose, sesquipedalian prose](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/149434.html?thread=4373690#t4373690).

The trick is in the rhythm, of course. Any imbecile with a thesaurus can string syllables together like misshapen pearls on a string, but that merely dulls the reader's mind, sends them drifting off to drown in the choppy oceans lurking under conscious thought, where the Baroness seeds her monsters and her nets; when they wake, they close the book, set it aside unfinished, and go about their days always a little less interested in aught beyond the tidal pulse of consumption and desire. But get the rhythm right and the ponderous sonority of her phrases, the tintinnabulation of every lithe and well-turned word, creates instead a limpid pool into which she may toss stones of truth that spread their ripples to the farthest reaches of the yearning soul, and wait, and gather, and return to wash away lies and make the mind a mirror filled with light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picked alpha!Rose rather than beta!Rose. :)


	6. classic detective games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi & Dave play Clue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 3/7/15 for [rthstewart](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org), in response to the prompt: [Any, any, candlestick as weapon](https://rthstewart.dreamwidth.org/119267.html?thread=4547299#cmt4547299).

"Investerrogator Peacock, tired of these foolish shenanigans and blatant obstructions of justice, suggests Mister Scarlet in the library with the candlestick, and proceeds to mercilessly drub the suspect until he confesses everything he knows!"

"What the fuckin' -- ow! -- hey, not the cape, you know I don't -- ow! -- what are you even -- ow! -- Jesus Christ on a spring-loaded novelty crutch, T-Z, will you lay off with the damn cane and stop trying to steal my cards, that's not how the game works!"

"It is now," Terezi said, and hurled herself gleefully across the Clue board, scattering the pieces in her wake.


	7. the real treasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave claims he's a dashing pirate; Karkat disagrees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 12/2/15 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Homestuck, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, pirates](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4497330#t4497330).

Dave considerately waited until Karkat was settling down onto the sofa (or into the sofa; it was a very tactile piece of furniture) with a copy of _Moulin Rouge!_ in the DVD player, a box of tissues in one hand, and a remote in the other, before he dropped from the ceiling, pinned Karkat down with his own body weight, flourished a (really obviously plastic) bejeweled scimitar, and proclaimed, "Avast, matey, I claim this sadly be-sweatpanted booty in the name of the Free Rovers of Interstellar Barataria; ye be spoils of war!"

Karkat blinked dumbly upward for nearly ten seconds, eyes wide and slightly orange-tinted with shock (maybe the alchemized eyepatch was too far?) before he visibly rebooted his brain and drew breath for a patented hilari-terrible rant.

Dave cut him off: "Dude, I have _seen_ your romance collection, billowy shirts and all, so don't even front; you are totally up for some dashing captain and virginal cabin boy and I know for a stone cold fact that Rose and Kanaya are canoodling in the library, Vriska and Terezi are snooze-sploring some dreambubbles, and your creepy clown chum is on official probation helping the Mayor reconstruct Can Town, so it looks like I have you all at my mercy, mwahahaha, now surrender your blushing charms or I'll make you walk the---mmmph!"

"Virginal my heaving bile sack," Karkat grumbled as he pulled back from the kiss, but he let the remote and tissues fall from his hands with a smile.


	8. the seer and the light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose rises from the Green Sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 2/29/16 for [killing_kurare](http://killing_kurare.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Any, Any, _You must have made some kind of mistake // I asked for death, but instead I'm awake_](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=5000882#t5000882).

She rises out of the Green Sun, shedding plasma in her wake, and for a moment everything is gloriously, impossibly clear: all the paths of fortune laid out in terrible, shining simplicity to the end of all possible universes. Then it occurs to Rose that sight implies someone to do the seeing, just as paths imply someone to travel them, which implies that she exists, which implies that she isn't _done_ , and her enlightenment begins to fade.

She buries that thought with practiced skill, but buried isn't quite the same as gone and she retains just enough memory of future choices to know that she'll chase that taste of oblivion in other ways -- the same way she's spent her whole life chasing the void where her mother's love should be -- and despite the ruin down that road, she already knows she won't manage to (won't _want_ to) make herself stop.


	9. on the internet, nobody can do your emotional labor for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The perils of punctuation and/or the lack thereof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 11/30/16 for [deceivepolyps](http://deceivepolyps.livejournal.com), in response to the misfire prompt: [great](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5304795#t5304795).
> 
> A misfire prompt, of course, is when a comment meant as a response to somebody else's fill goes astray and winds up starting a new thread without its intended context. They can lead to some interesting fills. :)

"Jaaaaaade," Dave drawled as he leaned against the back of the sofa, draping his arms over Jade's shoulders and resting his chin on her head, "I demand clarification of your response to my dinner invitation extravaganza; what do you mean by just writing 'great' without any context; don't you know you're not supposed to leave your words naked; they need punctuation and emojis to create the illusion of tone and save me from having to do hard emotional interpretation labor; I'm no good at emotional labor, Jade, have pity."

"Nobody's good at emotional labor when they start out, but I learned how to interpret _your_ writing without punctuation and emojis," Jade said cheerfully, a faint green light beginning to limn her form in warning of imminent teleportation; "Suck it up and deal, mister, or Karkat and I will go on our own private dinner date extravaganza while you loll around in abject despair over your inability to take words at face value."

"Great," Dave said into the minor rush of air that accompanied her departure, "real smooth, genius; you oughta borrow Jane's fedora for that move," and resigned himself to Karkat's inevitable laughter when Jade pulled the story out over dessert.


	10. questionably intelligent design

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But why frogs, really?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 12/5/16 for [mermaids_feet](http://mermaids_feet.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Homestuck, Any, Frogs](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5362139#t5362139).

"You know," Jade said with a slightly distracted air as they watched Bilious Slick junior arrow toward its destiny, "I'm still not sure why it's _frogs_ all the way down; I mean, yeah, they lay a lot of eggs and there's the metamorphosis symbolism, and they look very pretty in those big globes with the lily pads, but there must be better animals from a self-defense and general toughness standpoint, not to mention ones that take a more active interest in raising their young, which you'd think might be relevant from a universe-propagation standpoint -- and you don't even have to sacrifice the 'lays lots of eggs' factor very much to get those benefits."

"I confess zoology of the non-cryptid type was never my strong point," Rose said, "but you sound like you have a specific alternate animal in mind; why not enlighten us as to its name?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe alligators."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite [response so far](http://ceescedasticity.tumblr.com/post/154086847370/fic-questionably-intelligent-design), from [ceescedasticity](http://ceescedasticity.tumblr.com): "AU where Bec Noir enters the trolls’ session, prepares to destroy the Universe Alligator, and it FUCKING CHOMPS HIM." :DDD


	11. truly an eloquent turn of phrase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose courts Kanaya via magnetic poetry and bad memes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 12/6/16 for [runespoor7](http://runespoor7.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Homestuck, Rose Lalonde or Rose/Kanaya, Rose being a huge nerd](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5634523#t5634523).

"I had a dozen sets of these when I was twelve," Rose says as she busily arranges magnetic words on the refrigerator door, "which I mostly used to write and annotate dreadfully pretentious drivel -- the annotations being a passive-aggressive response to the messages of praise and encouragement my mother used to leave beside my creations -- but I dare say I have a better muse these days; perhaps you'd do me the honor of judging whether my literary endeavors have likewise improved."

" _Violets are purple, roses are gay, leaves embrace flowers, let's be a bouquet_?" Kanaya reads, her tone hovering somewhere between sarcasm and utter bemusement; "I have an intense suspicion that I'm missing a potentially-mocking cultural reference, though as matespritship proposals go, I admit this is oddly charming, in much the same way that a concussed purrbeast wiggler incites tender pity; how could I possibly refuse?"

Rose presses a hand to her forehead and fakes a swoon into Kanaya's arms; "My goodness, darling, don't say such romantic things or I might be quite overcome with passion -- flowers are _delicate_ , you know," she gets out in her most overwrought fake British accent before she can't keep a lid on her giggles any longer and tugs her girlfriend (or fiancée? Kanaya might have been joking, but Rose finds herself surprisingly taken with that idea) down to cuddle on their kitchen floor.


	12. the treason of pity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in the depths of slavery, the Dolorosa spins might-have-beens; the Demoness knows better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 1/10/17 for [silvr_dagger](http://silvr_dagger.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Any, any, treason](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5297371#t5297371).
> 
> This ficlet will make much more sense if read in combination with [The Time-Traveler's Kismesis: Counterthesis](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2220354).

"If I had it all to do over again," the Dolorosa says to her kismesis as they lie, sweaty, blood-streaked, and sated, in the little nest of torn sailcloth that serves as both pile and bedding ground for the slaves in Mindfang's crew, "I'd tell my son to aim for the Empress instead of the people; she _is_ the Empire, after all, its incarnation as well as its creator; any attack on its power and order is an attack on her, and vice versa. Instead of making ourselves into a threat to put down, we could have shown her how the highbloods have already stolen control out from under her nose -- high treason on a scale to beggar belief -- and tried to set up something better in the wake of the resulting bloodbath; she admires strength and daring, after all, and surely after helping her regain power in practice as well as in theory, we would have convinced her that letting such qualities flourish among lowbloods does not automatically equal chaos."

"If you had it all to do over again, you'd do exactly the same as before," the Demoness says, a thread of weary resignation laced through her habitual scorn, "because I'd go back too, a thousand thousand times if necessary, until I nudged you back onto the path; my master only accepts the timeline that leads to his victory, and as we both know, there are punishments worse than death; do not seek more of them than are already your share."


	13. you can be me when I'm gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calliope considers her other self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 12/6/17 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Any, any, _a million birds on the branches of my heart_](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5841220#t5841220).

Cherubs aren't meant to love, no more than a forest loves the myriad creatures that shelter in its branches, but somehow Calliope's alternate self -- weak and dominated by her brother, with no notion of her powers nor intent to use them -- has learned to trace the flight of individual birds, to walk among them and care about their fate.

She isn't very good at it yet, Calliope thinks, but she has time and life to practice, and friends to help her on her way; she'll learn and change, the way Calliope herself will never manage, too fixed on her eternal war with Caliborn and her chance to finally make an end.

As the singularity swallows her forever, Calliope watches her other self fly free of the game, and smiles.


	14. Three Views of Alternia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> War is kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 12/8/17 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Any, any, _do not weep, maiden, for war is kind_](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5852228#t5852228).

War is kind: it brings power, wealth, and everything Meenah dreamed of as a wiggler, a whole world within her grasp to shape to her smallest whim.

War is kind: it kills clean and quick, unlike the waking death of regrets and degradation that grinds Porrim down, until her owner's play at love almost seems a comfort instead of another violation.

War is kind: it paints a story vast as the heavens, that will last as long as the empire, and Aranea weaves herself into the center where her death will set the capstone on the rebellion's inevitable, glorious defeat.


	15. though it be silent as light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya is fairly sure her neighbors consider her a cryptid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 12/30/17 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Any, any, _the sun and solitude_](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5912388#t5912388). (Prompt choice courtesy of [longroadstonowhere](http://longroadstonowhere.tumblr.com))

During daylight, it's easy to imagine herself the only living person on the planet; the sun bakes down mercilessly over desert and oasis alike, with only the wind and passing zombies to stir the sand, and when Kanaya ventures into the more populated foothills, the little lawnrings behind their defensive walls feel as dusty and abandoned as the ruins Aradia loves to explore.

She's fairly sure her neighbors consider her something of a cryptid, a wandering spirit who filches food, gasoline, and textiles from the drone supply depot and pays by weeding gardens, repairing torn awnings and windmill sails, and mowing down occasional zombie migrations before they damage the leaky, higgledy-piggledy fortifications that are the inevitable result of centuries of wigglers building on each others' amateur schemes.

Some days the loneliness feels as vast as the desert itself, tall as the Scarshred Mountains on the horizon, and Kanaya thinks of forcing herself to learn how to ignore the sunrise, to wake at dusk and greet her neighbors troll to troll... but then she takes her husktop into her garden to watch sunlight illumine all the brilliant colors of her flags, her flowers, her friends' greetings in the Trollian message window, and she decides again that she has the best of both worlds: sun and solitude, without the social obligations that would come if anyone knew her blood color and her lusus, and true friends, half the globe away, whom she would not lose for all the neighbors in the world.


	16. church and state

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cardhenge and its implications for Can Town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 1/6/18 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Any, any, a circle of cards](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=6122564#t6122564). (Prompt choice courtesy of [writeshivaniwrite](http://writeshivaniwrite.tumblr.com))

"Rose, why are you building Stonehenge out of playing cards?"

"I should think that was obvious, brother dearest: I'm providing Can Town with a focus for the citizens' religious needs -- someone must think about their psychological well-being, after all, to say nothing of the practical insurance factor of having a ready-made method of communicating with the denizens of the Furthest Ring to discern their awful and incomprehensible will."

"...Okay, quick heads-up, just FYI I'm pretty fuckin' sure the Mayor's stance on horrorterrors isn't any friendlier than his stance on monarchy, but cool, whatever, you two can hash out the legality of Cardhenge on your own dime -- and on that note, he's walking over and he looks as pissed as an insect chess piece can get; better talk fast."


	17. waiting for the dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No regrets at the end of the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 1/6/18 for [ama_ranth_827](https://ama_ranth_827.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: [Any, Any, I don't regret it. Not a single second, not a single breath](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=5922628#t5922628). (Prompt choice courtesy of [yggidee](http://yggidee.tumblr.com))

"So this is how we die: alone, unremembered, fighting a fish-alien over the foreordained destruction of our world," Rose says as she folds herself down beside Dave on the abandoned building's roof; enough dirt has collected in its crevices by now that small, scraggly plants are reaching slowly skyward despite the ever-growing mélange of pollutants in the rain and wind -- life desperately, foolishly scrabbling for more time in the face of entropy triumphant. "Do you ever regret the choices that led us here, or wish for a cosmic rewind button to wipe the slate clean and start anew?" she asks, and does not add, _"without me, so you might reach old age."_

"No," Dave says, and for once does not elaborate; instead, he weaves his fingers through her own in silence, and together they watch the sun light the poisoned clouds on fire, waiting for their final, futile stand.


	18. feeling blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Technically speaking, Rose is a Sagittarius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 1/6/18 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Any, any, blue roses](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=6121284#t6121284). (Prompt choice courtesy of [shinyrock6498](http://shinyrock6498.tumblr.com); also a fill for the [Genprompt Bingo](https://genprompt_bingo.dreamwidth.org) square _second person narration_ )

"I think you're overlooking that on Earth we assign Zodiac symbols by month; by the rules of that system Dave, Jade, and I are all Sagittarius while John is Aries, so I might just as well be a blueblood by birthdate as a seadweller by Pesterchum hexcode," you say with as straight a face as you can manage (or at least as expressionless a face, since clearly nothing about you is particularly straight these days), and watch with carefully hidden glee as Kanaya tries to connect you to Equius and fails with a grimace.

"I suppose the traditional sense of self-importance and social superiority might suit..." she begins, only to trail off doubtfully.

"Did I ever tell you that my mother gifted me with a hoofbeast shortly before we began playing the game?" you add in a solicitous tone, and as Kanaya goes cross-eyed at the cognitive dissonance, you throw back your head and laugh.


	19. by her own petard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the first year on the meteor, Rose alchemized a pair of friendship rings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written 1/8/18 for anonymous, in response to the prompt: [Any, any, _amethysts and garnets_](https://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151620.html?thread=6102340#t6102340). (Prompt choice courtesy of [kalicofox](http://kalicofox.tumblr.com))

In the first year on the meteor, Rose alchemized a pair of friendship rings -- each set with an amethyst and a deep red garnet, nestled together at the base of a filigree silver heart -- intending to give one to Dave in mocking return for the ironically terrible rap he'd written to commemorate her newly admitted crush on Kanaya.

It wasn't until she slipped her half of the set onto her right ring finger and saw the evidence of her connection to Dave (genetic, chosen, whatever) that she realized she'd made an error and stirred genuine emotion within her chest -- and she wasn't sure whether it would hurt worse to see Dave wear his ring ironically or wear it in full sincerity; infuriatingly, Rose couldn't bring herself to simply turn the rings back into grist, so she settled for hiding them in the center of a yarn skein while she tried to decide what to do with them, and who she wanted to become as a person.

The timeline ended before she brought herself to make a choice.


End file.
